Saturday, July 26, 2014

Most Migrant Children Entering U.S. Are Now With Relatives, Data Show

LOS ANGELES — The vast majority of
unaccompanied migrant children arriving in the United States from Central
America this year have been released to relatives in states with large
established Central American populations, according to federal
data released Thursday night.

A
total of 30,340 children have been released to sponsors — primarily parents and
other relatives — from the start of the year through July 7, according to the Office
of Refugee Resettlement, which has overseen the care of the children after
they are turned over by Customs and Border Protection. More children have been
released in Texas than in any other state, with sponsors there receiving 4,280
children, followed by New York with 3,347. Florida has received 3,181 children and California 3,150. Maryland and
Virginia have each also received more than 2,200 children.

The numbers do not include those children who are still being cared for in
shelters, which have prompted the most
outrage from governors and other local officials across the country. Many
children who are placed in shelters for some period of time — anywhere between a
few days and a few months — have later been released to family members.

Officials have said that more than half of all children initially placed in
shelters have gone on to be reunited with at least one parent already living in
the United States, and 85 percent of all children have been placed with a close
family member.